How to Use Music Lessons for Black History Month

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What is your favorite way to study Black History Month? Reading books, watching movies, writing essays or reports, doing art? Have you ever tried doing music lessons for Black History Month? Today, I'll share many ideas to guide you!

Music Lessons for Black History Month

Musical Genres

African Americans have had a huge influence on the music of America. If you'd like to study musical genres, here are some to get you started:

African American Spirituals
Ragtime and Stride Piano
Jazz
Blues
Gospel
Rock and Roll
Rhythm and Blues (R&B)
Hip Hop and Rap
Musical Theater

Specific Music Lessons for Black History Month

**Here are some free music lessons for Black History Month:**

15-Minute Music Lesson for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
15-Minute Music Lesson for Juneteenth
Learn about African American spirituals and singer Henry T. Burleigh here
15-Minute Music Freebie on Jazz Saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker
Hamilton the Musical Projects for Teens
15-Minute Music Lesson on “Hamilton the Musical”
Learn about the African instrument the Kalimba here.
Get a couple of musical instrument notebooking pages of African instruments (agogo bells and balafon) here.

**The free Sampler Music Appreciation course has lessons on:**

Blues and Jazz
“Follow the Drinking Gourd”, a folk song about the Underground Railroad
International Jazz Day
Hymn “Amazing Grace” (written by John Newton, repentant former slave ship captain)

Online Music Course Lessons

Many countries of Africa are featured in the World Music for Elementary online course, where instruments, folk dances, and indigenous music is explored.
Learn about the following topics and people in the American Music for Elementary online course: African American spirituals, ragtime and Scott Joplin, Jazz (and musicians such as Duke Ellington), blues, rock and roll
Three spirituals/folk songs are featured in the A Folk Song a Week online course: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”; “When the Saints Go Marching In”; and “Follow the Drinking Gourd”
There are 22 lessons from the continent of Africa in the My First Amazing Journey Around the World online course.
Learn about George Gershwin who fused classical music with jazz and wrote the first American folk opera Porgy and Bess (featuring classically trained African American opera singers) in the Learn Classical Music with Cartoons online course.